


The Lost Day

by tablelamp



Category: Grace and Frankie (TV)
Genre: M/M, Time Travel, Time travelling into one's younger self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/pseuds/tablelamp
Summary: Robert wakes up in an unexpected place and time.
Relationships: Sol Bergstein/Robert Hanson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TiaNaut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiaNaut/gifts).



"Are you all right?"

Robert mumbles something incoherent. It can't be time to get up already. It feels early still, and rehearsal isn't until six. They don't have anything else planned for today.

"Robert?" It's Sol, speaking softly. "Can you hear me?"

Robert yawns a little, lifting his head. "I hear you fine." He's not lying in bed; he seems to be sitting up. Why is he sleeping sitting up? And why doesn't his back hurt from doing that?

When he looks at Sol, though, he forgets all about how he slept or didn't sleep, because Sol is different. His hair is brown, and he looks...he looks so young. Robert had forgotten they were ever that young.

Sol smiles, keeping his voice quiet. "You usually don't sleep at your desk."

"At my..." Robert takes in his surroundings for the first time. This is the firm, but...this is the firm a long time ago, before they got rid of that awful rust-colored carpet. "Sol, what year is it?"

Sol tips his head slightly to one side, still smiling, as though Robert is joking. "The same year it was this morning, I think."

But Robert is on a mission. "Good. Yes. What year is that?"

Some of the humor fades from Sol's face. "It's 1980."

Forty years ago. Robert is himself, but forty years ago. 

He looks back at Sol, who is clearly expecting him to say something...give a reason, maybe, or some explanation why he's acting like this. But Robert isn't much good at improvisation. He never was.

Sol says loudly, "Are you all right, Robert? That was quite a knock to the head."

Robert frowns at Sol, wondering what the hell Sol is talking about, and Sol gestures with his head none too subtly in the direction of their boss's office. Oh.

"I don't know," Robert says, making sure his voice carries. "My head aches a lot."

"Groan a little and lean back in your chair," Sol whispers, coaching him.

"Ohhhhh," Robert moans, leaning back in his chair. They make a great team, even this far back.

"I can't let you stay here. You might be concussed!" Sol's voice is loud enough to scare away even one of your less timid wild animals. "I'll take you to the doctor."

"Thank you." Robert knows exactly what Sol is doing; he's buying them time alone so he and Robert can talk honestly about what's happening. Which is probably for the best, since Robert doesn't think it would look very impressive to spend time in the office as his present-day self. He's already patted his pocket once to make sure he has his cell phone, though he won't have one for another ten or fifteen years, and that one won't fit easily in his pocket.

Sol is all care and empathy, leading Robert out of the office and tut-tutting about how he hopes it's not too serious all the way down to his car.

"Thanks for having my back in there," Robert says, smiling at Sol once they're in the car.

Sol looks worried. "Do you really not know what year it is?"

"I do now. You told me it's 1980." But Robert knows that's not what Sol is asking.

"Robert," Sol says, and the tone of voice alone lets Robert know he's not happy.

Robert sighs. "You won't believe me."

"Yes, I will." The statement is so straightforward but so Sol that it touches Robert's heart. He knows they're not together in this time and place, but God, he loves that man.

"Well." This is not a subject Robert knows how to ease into. "The thing is, I'm from the future."

"Are you?" Sol looks interested. "Do we have flying cars?"

Robert glances at him, eyebrows raised. "You can't be serious."

Sol shrugs. "You said you're from the future. I don't get to ask questions?"

"I don't know. I've never done this before."

"Me neither," Sol says. "How are you from the future?"

"I'm still me," Robert says, "but I'm me from forty years from now."

Sol looks him up and down. "You don't look forty years older."

Doesn't he? No, of course he doesn't. Sol would've reacted to a suddenly much older Robert sitting at his desk. "I don't understand it either. But it's true. I know everything that happens in the next forty years. Well, not everything. But the things that happen to us."

"What happens to us? Are we all still..." Sol does what looks like some kind of interpretive dance move, but Robert knows Sol is asking if they're all still alive. "...okay?"

"We are," Robert says. "You and me and Grace and Frankie."

Sol huffs out a relieved breath, then looks at Robert. "Why do you think you're here? Did something happen today you need to fix? Time travelers are always fixing things in the past, aren't they?"

Robert fixes Sol with a stare. "Have you known many time travelers?"

"Well, there was this one guy," Sol begins. Then he shakes his head. "Never mind. We're talking about you."

"Sol, I don't even remember today. What is it, September?"

"August."

Robert frowns. "August." There's something about August 1980 that he should remember. Then his breath catches, and he looks at Sol. "This is the lost day."

Sol squints at him. "Lost day?"

Robert nods. "August 1980. I was in the office Friday morning, and then the next thing I knew, I was waking up on Saturday. Scared me enough that I quit drinking for a while. Nobody knew anything about what I did the day before, except you, and you were very mysterious about the whole thing. "

"Ooh, I like being mysterious."

"This is why I didn't remember today," Robert says, feeling the pieces of the puzzle click into place. "This always happened. To you, it happened in 1980. But to me, it hadn't happened yet."

Sol is wide-eyed. "Wow."

"I might get a headache if I think too hard about that," Robert says. 

There's a long silence between the two of them, but silences have never been awkward for them. Well, not since they got to know each other, anyway.

"You're the one who came all this way," Sol says. "What do you want to do?"

"Other than go back to work?" Robert asks.

Sol makes a face. "You don't go forty years into the past just so you can spend the day at work, Robert. Even I know that. Besides, we have a cover story now. You're concussed, so we can spend the day doing anything we want."

Robert hides a smile and checks his watch. Eleven thirty. "Maybe we could go for lunch?"

Sol nods. "Okay. Where do you want to go?"

Good question. "Wait. Pup 'n' Taco!"

Sol chuckles. "You can eat anything you want, and you want fast food?"

"They've gone out of business where I come from, and I've been craving their chili dogs for at least ten years," Robert says. This is amazing. What a treat, to have a kind of food they don't even make anymore.

Sol shrugs. "Okay. Pup 'n' Taco it is."


	2. Chapter 2

The chili dogs--or chili pups, as Robert had forgotten they were called--are just as good as he remembers. Robert doesn't mean to be a glutton exactly, but when three chili pups are only $1.29, well...you order three. 

"I can't believe the prices!" he tells Sol as they eat their lunches.

"Is food more expensive in the future?" Sol asks.

"Everything's more expensive in the future," Robert says grimly.

Sol picks up his bean burrito, but hesitates. "Can I ask you about it? I understand if you can't say anything."

Robert shrugs. "Nobody gave me a rulebook. Go ahead."

"We really want kids," Sol says quietly. "Are we...do we make that happen?"

Robert smiles. "You do."

Sol looks delighted. "We do?"

"You have two boys," Robert says. "And Grace and I have two girls."

"I'm sure they'll all be best friends," Sol says brightly.

Best friends is maybe not the right phrase, but Robert doesn't want to rain on Sol's parade. "Uh-huh."

"Two kids. Frankie will be so happy." Sol looks at Robert. "Can I tell her?"

"I don't know why she'd believe me, but all right."

"I don't have to tell her where I heard it," Sol says. "I'll just say a reliable source."

Robert is halfway through his second chili pup when Sol says hopefully, "Are you and I still friends?"

 _Oh, Sol._ "Of course we are."

"What does that look mean?"

"What look?"

Sol folds his arms. "You had a look on your face when I asked you if we were still friends."

"That was my 'yes, we're still friends' look."

"It was not. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't that."

Robert looks at Sol. "Do you really want to know?"

"Does something bad happen?" Sol asks.

Robert could tell Sol exactly what to expect, of course, but he knows how the idea of hurting Frankie bothered and still bothers Sol. He's not going to add years of that to Sol's life. "It's just that Grace and I aren't together anymore. In the future."

"Oh, Robert." Sol reaches out to rest a comforting hand on Robert's arm. "I'm so sorry."

"I appreciate that," Robert says.

Sol's expression is open and sympathetic. "I don't know when it happens, so I don't know how much it still hurts. But I really believe that if you want to, you can find love again. You're a very good man."

He is not going to cry in the middle of a Pup 'n' Taco. "Thank you." If Sol only knew. "There--there is someone."

Sol smiles. "I'm not surprised! Does she make you happy?"

Robert might be willing to omit certain things from his description of the future, but he's not going to lie. He spent too long lying. "He does."

Sol looks surprised, but only for a moment, and then his face is solemn, and he pats Robert's arm. "Thank you for trusting me with that. I won't tell anyone, I promise. Not even Frankie."

Robert hadn't thought of that. Thank goodness Sol is at least a little discreet. "Thanks." He finishes the last chili pup and thinks he should probably change the subject. "So what should we do next?"

"If you're up for a drive, we could go to the beach," Sol says. "Or if you're not, we could go to the movies."

"If we go to the movies, you'll have to pick. I don't remember what movies were playing forty years ago."

Sol thinks. "You like musicals, don't you?"

Robert feels warm inside. Even this early, Sol was paying attention to what he liked and didn't like. "I do."

"We could go see _Xanadu_. Gene Kelly's in it." Sol looks mischievous. "In a roller disco."

He had definitely forgotten about roller discos. "That sounds...terrifying."

Sol laughs aloud. "Come on. It'll be fun."

Robert means it with all his heart when he says, "I'm sure it will."


	3. Chapter 3

_Xanadu_ is enjoyable. Ridiculous, yes, but enjoyable. And Sol is the perfect movie companion--he laughs at all the jokes and reacts to everything. Robert is tempted to watch him half the time instead of the movie.

"That settles it," Sol tells Robert as they're walking to the car. "I'm leaving the firm and opening a roller disco."

"You are not. Anyway, disco doesn't last much longer."

Sol looks disappointed. "But it's so fun!"

That's Sol in a nutshell; he goes straight to the fun side of everything. "I can't picture you at a disco."

"Frankie and I went once," Sol says. "It was a little intimidating. Some of the people there went all the time. They were very good dancers."

Robert nods, but his mind isn't really on discos. "What now? The beach?"

Sol stops walking, studying Robert's face. "You're stalling."

He is. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you're not married to Grace anymore," Sol says, "but if you go home, you have to pretend you are."

Sol is right, of course. Robert nods. "I don't even remember what we were like. It was such a long time ago."

"Maybe you've learned something in the meantime," Sol says. "Something you can share with her."

Robert gives Sol a sidelong glance. "Are you trying to marriage counsel me?"

"Maybe a little," Sol says, smiling. "Did it work?"

"Yeah," Robert says. Maybe he can do something nice for her, something she isn't expecting. "You're sure you don't want to--"

"Frankie's expecting me for dinner," Sol says.

In a way, Robert is relieved. They will eventually have to do so much in secret and tell so many lies. He doesn't want that to start now. "I understand."

"You're not angry?" Sol hates having anyone angry with him. 

"Of course not." He isn't. This is just a taste of things past, and tomorrow, he'll be with his Sol again. "Would a hug be strange?"

"A little, coming from you," Sol says. "Lucky for you, I like both hugs and strange things." His eyes crinkle with mirth.

Robert steps forward and gives Sol a hug. Sol's hugs were just as good forty years ago as they are now. Robert doesn't let it last too long, though. "Drive me home?"

Sol nods. "Sure."

They spend the ride home in comfortable silence, and when Sol pulls up in front of Grace and Robert's house, he smiles at Robert. "See you in forty years."

Robert smiles back. "See you tomorrow."

As he heads up the front sidewalk, he wonders if maybe he should go for a jog or something. He feels incredibly energetic. _You're stalling again._

Grace looks up in surprise when he comes in the front door. "You're home early."

Any explanation would be a lie, and Robert doesn't have the stomach to lie to Grace anymore. "Is that a good surprise or a bad surprise?"

"Good," Grace says hopefully. With hindsight, Robert can see that some of Grace's defensive walls haven't been built yet, and he feels a fresh wave of guilt for having been part of the reason for them in the first place. 

"Your feet hurt?" he asks.

Grace nods, making a face as she shifts position on the sofa. She must be...let's see, Brianna's born in October, so...seven months pregnant. "They're all right when I sit like this. The trouble's getting up."

"Here." Robert sits on the sofa by Grace's feet, taking one of her feet in his hands and starting to massage it. "Let me help."

Grace looks surprised. "Thank you." She sighs, visibly relaxing as Robert works away at the sole of her foot. "That is...perfect."

Robert smiles. "I'm glad." He hasn't done that much for her, all these years, but he can do this.

"Did you have a good day?" Grace asks him.

Robert tells the truth. "I had a very good day. What about you?"

Grace gestures to the pile of books on their coffee table. "I spent the whole day looking at baby names. Do you think anyone still names their children Hortense?"

"The real question is, did anyone ever name their children Hortense?"

"I had a great-aunt named Hortense."

Robert doesn't remember that. "Did you?"

"No," Grace says, amused. "I just wanted to see the look on your face when I said that."

Robert can't help smiling. He shifts his attention to Grace's other foot.

Grace sighs again, closing her eyes. "Forget dinner. Maybe I'll have a nap."

"You can if you want," Robert tells her.

She's clearly nearing sleep now. "Roast's in the oven. Should be done in twenty minutes."

"Okay," Robert whispers. She looks relaxed and comfortable, and in another five minutes, the even rise and fall of her breathing tells him she's asleep.

He fixes himself a plate and eats in the kitchen. Grace is a very good cook; she always has been. She's still asleep when he finishes, so he quietly fixes a plate for Grace, washes the dishes, and gets ready for bed.

The mirror in the bathroom's quite a surprise. He's somehow managed to avoid looking at himself all day, and it's both a shock and not a shock at all to see his younger self in the reflection. Sometimes he still expects himself to look like that when he looks in the mirror now.

"Good to see you again," he tells himself.

There's a book on the nightstand, but it's one of those books Robert read because he thought it was the sort of thing he should read. He's not going to waste his time with that now. He picks up _The Bourne Identity_ and starts on that instead, wondering if, chronologically, this is actually the first time he's read this book. A third of the way in, he starts to feel tired, so he puts the book aside and turns the lights off.

Sleep comes easily to a man who's going home in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4

Robert is awakened by the feeling of Sol's arms pulling him closer. _Back in my time. Good._

Then his eyes snap open. He remembers yesterday--that day in 1980. Was that real? Was he dreaming? It seemed very real.

"What is it?" Sol asks, sounding sleepy.

"I'm not sure yet," Robert says.

Sol, ever the worrywart, is instantly wide awake and wide-eyed. "Do you feel sick? Is it your heart? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." Robert punctuates his statement with a reassuring kiss. "I had...a vision."

Sol looks suspicious. "That doesn't sound like you."

"I woke up in the office forty years ago," Robert says, "and I--"

"The lost day! I've been wondering when you'd bring that up! I couldn't believe it wouldn't be important enough for you to talk about." Sol nearly bounces with excitement.

"You remember that?" Robert asks cautiously.

"Of course I remember it. You told me about my kids and your kids--how could I forget that?"

Robert stares at the ceiling. "I thought it might be a dream."

"Definitely not," Sol says. "What was it like? Did you have fun?"

"You were there."

"I know, but I've known about it forever. You were just there. So?"

Robert shakes his head. "I can hardly believe it really happened."

"I thought it might be a joke at first," Sol admits. "But you believed it, and then it was just like you said--the next day, you didn't remember any of it."

"You're the only one in the world who would've believed me," Robert says.

Sol looks thoughtful. "Not in the world. But definitely in that law firm." He smiles. "So? Did you learn anything from your visit to the past?"

"I'd forgotten how much things have changed in my lifetime," Robert says. "It was good to be reminded." He takes Sol's hand. "You haven't changed."

"I might've aged just a little," Sol jokes.

"No, sweetheart," Robert says. "You haven't changed at all."

It's wonderful to watch the way the look in Sol's eyes softens anytime Robert is the least bit sentimental. "I love you."

"I love you too." They kiss again.

Sol snuggles close to Robert; Robert loves how tactile he is. "I think we should watch _Xanadu_ today."

"Can't we wait a week? I just saw it yesterday."

"Maybe your theatre group should do _Xanadu_. I think they made a stage musical out of that."

"Absolutely not. I am not getting on roller skates for anyone."

"You could be Zeus. Zeus shows up somewhere in there." Sol frowns. "Or is that _Clash of the Titans_?"

Robert laughs. "It was nice to see the past. But it's nicer to be here."

Sol beams. "I'm glad." He kisses Robert. "I'll make you anything you want for breakfast. Not chili dogs. But anything else."

Robert smiles. Sol is absolutely irrepressible, and Robert wouldn't have him any other way, with or without a trip to the past. 

"Surprise me," he says.


End file.
